In late 2018, Alexis Cicciù arrived at KYTA, in northern India, invited there for an artistic residency. At 2 600 meters in altitude, in the middle of monsoon season, he immersed himself little by little in a new world dominated by insects –one of the artist’s passions—and charas, the local cannabis that sets the pace for the community’s rituals and daily life. A rite of passage told directly from the field.
I left for a five-week stay in India, from September 6 to October 17, 2018, in the state of Himachal Pradesh, at the foot of the Himalaya. The trip was part of an artistic residency called KYTA that is artistically managed by Shazeb Arif Shaikh and logistically and financially managed by Hashim Qayoom. I was…